autiful
lines of the eye-lids, which had attracted his attention at their first
meeting, because they moved very little, as if the eyes had more
strength than those of others to bear the light without the quiver of
an eyelash. Then the delicate, strongly marked brows, which contracted
when she was in thought--her father often teased her about it; her
forehead was like a white page containing some secret inscription, and
the eyebrows arched beneath it like two large interrogation points--all
these things appeared before him, and the quiet droop of the head when
it was difficult for her to understand something he was explaining, and
the sudden movement with which, when she had grasped the idea, she
raised it as if exulting in her victory and demanding new and more
difficult tasks.

This girl loved him, and for months he had not had the slightest
suspicion of it!

He took the plate she had painted for him from his desk, where he kept
all sorts of writing materials lying on it, and looked at it as if for
the first time. Without thinking what he was doing, he breathed on the
surface and polished it with his handkerchief. It seemed as if he
thought some secret cipher was concealed among the flowers and ears of
corn, which must now stand out and reveal what thoughts had passed
through her mind while she painted.

Suddenly it occurred to him that he possessed something better than
this. The volume written by her own hand, in which as her father said,
she had copied his lessons--a deep flush crimsoned his face as he
remembered that it still lay unopened in his desk. True, how could it
have interested him to see whether his pupil had correctly understood
all his words, since the instruction was to cease. But suddenly this
pledge entrusted to his care became of the greatest value, as a fresh
means--since she would disclose her feelings in it without reserve--of
obtaining a thorough knowledge of her, and then: did he know what
confessions she might have made between the lines, confessions which
had so long remained mute and unanswered?

As if to repair the omission by the utmost haste, he now drew out the
package and tore off the enclosure. A plain thick volume, like a diary,
appeared, on whose blue cover was written the word "journal." A
flourish had been drawn beneath with the pen, and as he turned the
leaves he found many traces on the margins of the pages that the writer
had dreamily drawn, intricately interwoven flowers a